A collaboration between Hassell and charity foundation One Heart, the Community Building forms part of a master plan designed by architectural firm ClarkeHopkinsClarke (CHC) that will provide housing, education, childcare and skills training to lift vulnerable young people of Tanzania out of poverty and guide them towards a brighter future.
The project’s primary goal is to educate and care for vulnerable girls, with a strong emphasis on community involvement from conception to construction.
“The start of construction [of initial housing projects] at Hope Village is the reality of a dream that I have had for over 20 years,” says Consola Elia, the lead house parent of the children’s homes at Hope Village.
As a central gathering place, the Hope Village Community Building will host bustling school assemblies and lively communal meals, dividing into smaller spaces for added flexibility.
A kitchen, bakery and communal store will support its multifunctional use as a hub for performance, connection and reflection for the whole community. With a striking, ‘draped’ tensile roof and walls made from earth, the Community Building aims to create a village heart for residents and become a landmark for gathering in the broader neighbourhood.
The building’s 3D-printed earth wall technology is a sustainable design solution developed using clay-based soil available from sites within a 25-mile radius.
The unusual construction process was tested in full-scale mock-ups with the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) in Barcelona, Spain and with engineers Eckersley O’Callaghan.
Through the printing process, layers of earth bind together, creating walls punctuated by small openings. These permeable walls draw air and sunlight into the building’s interior when in place.
A steel beam spanning the length of the Community Building will support a tensile roof made from locally sourced timber and clad with readily available corrugated metal sheet panels. The intention here is that the roof could potentially be assembled by the local community.
Hassell, One Heart, IAAC and the CHC team aim to oversee the transportation of vital building equipment needed to 3D-print the building’s walls from local earth. This initiative seeks to create opportunities for local employment, training and collaboration, fostering a foundational relationship between the community and this new central hub and ensuring active participation in building from the ground up.
